Paul Simon/Hawaii, USA 2019

Paul Simon appeared to be retiring after completing his farewell tour last year. Introducing a super-excellent live album that records his latest show. This work includes “Maui performance on August 14, 2019”. It is a transcendental audience recording that vacuum-packs the whole picture. The biggest point of this work is the sound that is too wonderful, but first of all, the position of the show. Although Paul’s last world tour “HOMEWARD BOUND: THE FAREWELL TOUR” ended in September last year, it was his “retirement from tour life” and he continued his music activities. We are holding a show in 2019 as well, albeit as an event. Let’s take a look at the whole picture to know about his recent situation.・January 28th + April 15th: TV appearance ・August 9th: Oakland performance ・August 11th: San Francisco performance ・August 13th: Maui performance ・August 14th: Maui performance ←★This work★ This is 2019 schedule announced so far. There will be a total of 4 stage concerts excluding the TV performance. The final performance was two consecutive nights in Maui, Hawaii. This work is a live album on the final day. The sound of this work that recorded such a show is exactly the best audience recording that you want to line up “super” in a row. The best part is…everything. The core is strong and beautiful, and the atmosphere is crystal clear and vivid in every corner. The venue, “A&B AMPHITHEATER,” has a plaza surrounding a small hut-like stage, and there are no walls to make the sound reverberate. Therefore, there is no hall sound in the first place, and the performance that extends into the Hawaiian sky is recorded beautifully. Of course, outdoors is susceptible to the effects of wind, and it is not uncommon for the distance to be blurry. However, this work has no such concerns at all. When you listen carefully with headphones, it seems that the distance is not completely zero, but even that doubles the beauty of the singing voice and strings. It is a world of beauty where the distinction between sound board and audience no longer makes sense. The show drawn with such a sound is filled with famous songs of all time and delicious guest co-stars. The set basically follows “THE FAREWELL TOUR” but is similar but different. Let’s organize the contents here. ●BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER (3 songs)・Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Boxer, Cecilia ●PAUL SIMON (2 songs)・Mother & Child Reunion, Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard ●STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS (2 songs)・50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, Still Crazy After All These Years ●GRACELAND (5 songs)・The Boy In The Bubble, That Was Your Mother, Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes, You Can Call Me Al, Graceland ●THE RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS (4 songs)・Can’t Run But, The Obvious Child, Spirit Voices, The Cool, Cool River ●Others (6 songs)・The Sound Of Silence (SOUND OF SILENCE), Late In The Evening (ONE- TRICK PONY), Rene & Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War (HEARTS AND BONES), Dazzling Blue (SO BEAUTIFUL OR SO WHAT), Wristband (STRANGER TO STRANGER) Keola Beamer: Sea Breeze, Honolulu City Lights… And it looks like this. Focusing on the golden era of solos, “GRACELAND” and “THE RHYTHM OF THE SAINTS,” it covers a wide range of careers from “The Sound Of Silence” to “STRANGER TO STRANGER” numbers. “Cecilia”, which was not played on the farewell tour, has also been revived, but this is not only rare. Michael McDonald appears as a guest on this song. He co-stars in a medley arrangement with Billy Preston’s “Will It Go Round in Circles.” The songs I’m not used to hearing are “Sea Breeze” and “Honolulu City Lights,” but these are also songs with guest appearances. It is a collaboration with Keola Beamer of Hawaii. Keola is a master of slack-key guitar, and his brother Kapono Beamer’s “HONOLULU CITY LIGHTS” is also known for having the title song covered by the Carpenters. This work is co-starring with Paul on two representative songs of “HONOLULU CITY LIGHTS”. There is nothing that makes you realize the progress of technology like audience recording, but the sound of this work can be said to be the cutting edge of 2019. I wouldn’t mistake it for a sound board because of the realistic feeling of lively applause and warm chanting, but its sound quality exceeds the common sense of conventional guest records. It’s not just a vivid live album, but a beautiful live album that was made possible because of the latest audience recording. Famous songs of all time colored by that sound… A treasure of music records that can only be experienced in 2019. A&B Amphitheater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Kahului, Maui, Hawaii 14th August 2019 ULTIMATE SOUND Disc 1(51:01) 1. Late In The Evening 2. The Boy In The Bubble 3. 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover 4. Dazzling Blue 5. That Was Your Mother 6. Mother & Child Reunion 7. Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard 8. MC 9. Rene & Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War 10. Can’t Run But 11. MC 12. Bridge Over Troubled Water Disc 2(74:21) 1. The Obvious Child 2. Wristband 3. Spirit Voices 4. The Cool, Cool River 5. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes 6. You Can Call Me Al 7. Graceland 8 . Still Crazy After All These Years 9. Sea Breeze (with Keola Beamer) 10. Honolulu City Lights (with Keola Beamer) 11. The Boxer 12. Cecilia (with Michael McDonald) 13. The Sound Of Silence